1. Albert Harold "Al" Quie was an American politician and farmer.
22 Facts About Al Quie
1. 2.
Al Quie served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1958 to 1979 and as Governor of Minnesota from 1979 to 1983.
3.
Al Quie was on Gerald Ford's list for possible vice presidents following the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.
4.
The third of four children, Al Quie was born on September 18,1923, on his family's farm in Wheeling Township near Dennison, Minnesota, in Rice County.
5.
Al Quie graduated from Northfield High School in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1942.
6.
Al Quie served in the United States Navy during World War II as a fighter pilot, finishing flight school just as the war ended.
7.
Al Quie served in the Minnesota State Senate from 1955 to 1958, representing the old 18th District.
8.
US Representative August Andresen died in January 1958 and Al Quie ran in the special election to succeed him as the representative for.
9.
Al Quie defeated Foley in the November 1958 general election to win a full term.
10.
Al Quie was a member of the 85th, 86th, 87th, 88th, 89th, 90th, 91st, 92nd, 93rd, 94th, and 95th Congresses.
11.
Al Quie served on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee.
12.
Al Quie voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1960,1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
13.
Al Quie was briefly considered for Vice President of the United States in 1974 after Gerald Ford became president upon the resignation of Richard Nixon.
14.
Al Quie ran for governor of Minnesota in 1978 against incumbent Rudy Perpich, Al Quie won the election by 111,775 votes.
15.
In November 1979,5 foreign students were arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap Al Quie, they were later released due to a lack of evidence.
16.
Al Quie sold the family farm and traveled extensively, including horseback riding excursions.
17.
Al Quie's grandfather joined the newly founded Republican Party and supported Abraham Lincoln for president in the 1860 United States presidential election.
18.
Al Quie married artist Gretchen Quie, whom he met at St Olaf, on June 5,1948.
19.
Al Quie died of Parkinson's disease on December 13,2015, at age 88.
20.
Al Quie lived in a senior living community in Wayzata, Minnesota for the last decade of his life.
21.
Al Quie died from natural causes on August 18,2023 in Wayzata at the age of 99, a month before his 100th birthday.
22.
In Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days, Al Quie is said to be the first governor ever to set foot in the mythical town of Lake Wobegon, "slipping quietly away from his duties to attend a ceremony dedicating a plaque attached to the Statue of the Unknown Norwegian" and making a few remarks.